Persecution and Questions

Traveling in Faith

It is not uncommon to be asked what it looks like when believers try to live according to the Almighty's ways. While this is a lifelong process of learning, I will share some personal experiences as an example. The general idea my family has followed is that if we stay within His will, we will live in His blessing and have peace. Further, if we are doing the work that He has for us, whatever it may be, He will be the Provider so we are able to focus on the task at hand.

The following accounts from my family's personal life are snippets of events, both positive and negative, from the last few years, during which time we have learned to trust Him and His ways. They come from putting our faith and beliefs to the test. It has been a multi-year experiment that has often been surprising and even more times humbling. Yet through it all, His provision and loving care have been evident.

We were led to follow a path studying His creation. Other people will have their own path to follow. Yet having miracles and blessings occur along the way is common to those who put themselves in His care. If a person is going to trust in their own efforts, our Heavenly Father will let them have the results and provision that comes by working on their own. Allowing myself to let go of controlling everything and trusting in His care has been one area of continual testing for me.

If one were to measure this experiment by the standards of the secular world, such as money, this trip would not make any sense. We gave up living in a house with lots of possessions to live in a tent, typically not have any savings, and trusting on the provision of the Almighty as we went. However, His version of prospering is very different than the world's view. I am to be learning about His creation and, having grown up and spending nearly my entire life in just a small section of Ohio and taught an evolutionary point of view, I needed to get out and experience His creation first-hand.

In many ways, it was much like the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness. At times, we were getting things correct and enjoyed His blessings and at other times we made mistakes and were gently corrected or outright punished. Throughout this time, many lessons were to be learned about the Scriptures, science, and society. Perhaps one of the greatest lessons is that His provision does not come at the last minute as some would say, but rather it comes at the right time when it is needed. This was typically later than was comfortable for myself but always beautiful in how He managed to make things happen.

What Is Faith?

Of of during the trip, our faith was growing because of everything we were going through. The as our faith grew, the as our faith grew the occurrences of that came along the trips and adventures that came along the of the challenges that we faced to

As we continued on in our journey, and as we were learning a to have stronger faith, the challenges that we would meet along the way also increased in size. But with these increased challenges also came the increased possibility that to work with or minister to others in special ways.

Knowledge vs Experience It's interesting no person can be very knowledgeable about the topic but inexperience will cause all that knowledge to be almost useless. No many good examples of that come with a camping lifestyle in a you can have a person who has studied every book on camping there is in the world they know the rules and procedures inside and out as low as any outdoors man but if they've never actually sat down and try together would on a rainy day and light a campfire without the use of modern fire starting techniques and at a light suddenly find out that how much work it is and how difficult it is or maybe even impossible. Part of it is the fact did not experience of looking at the wood try and find what is a good quality firewood even if they can recognize it in their head a part of the country they aren't familiar with they won't know the types of what so they will if and even if they do recognize what will make a good firewood to have a difficulty that their muscles are not built up in their coordination is not built up to take the lid down to size assemble a and then actually do the effort of making enough friction to light the fire not actually make it all work is not that easy. Even if they do manage to light a fire then you have the difficulty of actually cooking over fireman cooking over campfire just is not like cooking with the list and a gas stove or electric still it is very easy to overcook and burn food is also to undergo it's not ready. Of welt we did have some camping some camping experience so most of that was not an issue when we did have a fire starters that we could use a thing most of the camping was not that difficult we had a camping trailer with a stove ... to make a campfire was an option not a necessity. However in terms of actually traveling and relying on the Almighty there however actually traveling, relying on the Almighty, working with fellowships on a short-term basis when he was here and leave just a week or two of time and or so experiencing what is happening

Getting the Basics Right

A few years ago, I heard a radio preacher who defined excellence as "getting the basics right most of the time". Although this may not fit the dictionary definition, there is a lot of truth in this statement. If the basics are not in place and working well, anything built up on them will not stand up well.

Probably the basic item that has given us the most difficulty is communication. We are frequently moving from place to place so mail has been difficult to keep up with. Even with a cell phone, we have been in many places without a cell signal. Even in talking directly to brethren about our travel plans, it seems that every detail needs to be double checked to assure that there is understanding in what has been said. A slight misunderstanding can have drastic effects. When traveling, it is unlikely that anyone will know you personally ... they have only what they have heard you say that they have to use to judge whether you are genuine or false. A small miscommunication can destroy any trust and relationship that has been started.

Another basic is simply taking care of ourselves. It has been far to easy to be busy (or get distracted) and miss regular meals, or sleep, or our own time for Scripture and prayer. This has to be strongly guarded against. our answer has been to reserve the morning as our family time.

Dealing with Opposition to Faith

Those who are in ministry are involved in the fight between evil with good. This is a battle fought much more in the spiritual than it is in the physical. A few years ago, the Almighty was calling me to leave my job and follow His will. This was a very difficult thing to agree to because of the many concerns in my head about how to care for my family and pay our bills. Through both my own prayer and through other people the Almighty assured me that He would provide for us and that I was to trust Him. After making the decision to quit my job and follow Him, it came out over the coming months that we would be starting a ministry. The last few years have an amazing testimony of how He has cared for us and enabled us to do His work (and receive a lot of experience and training along the way). Now that we are on the road, that same faith is needed even more.

In the few months that we have been on the road, we have already noticed a pattern in the physical that has a basis in the spiritual. Those who do not believe that our Heavenly Father will speak to us and guide us or who do not want to hear a message of righteousness will attack us and oppose us. That in itself is not surprising. What is surprising is that different people in different places all choose that same point of attack ... that of my not having a job. That is precisely the point in my life which took a great amount of faith and has led us to where we are today. If they can discredit the base of our ministry, then they can discredit anything else we have to share as well. This type of attack not only allows the other person(s) to not hear us, but it also tries to undermine our faith in what Father is doing through this ministry. Such attacks are a drain on our energy and can use up much time as we try to deal with Scripture that has been taken out of context in order to show that we are doing something wrong. As we get through this, we are stronger and more prepared to deal with it in the future. But the lesson is we must not let doubt and disbelief and twisting of Scripture put down our faith.

Blind Faith

There is a difference between faith and blind faith and how most people define it. but is not how I'm going to define. When Abraham was told by the Almighty to go out from his father's land to land that showed them the Abraham was not going out on blind faith ... he had a promise from the Almighty said he would go out he would be given the land and he would be taken care of. Although Abraham did not know where he was going he could have faith in that promise you could trust Elohim to fulfill what he said he would do. If Abraham had gone out on his own and just then expected the Almighty to provide for him that would be going out on blind faith and a way that would be somewhat stupid and he could get into a lot of trouble because he is not necessarily doing what Father wants him to do.

This page is under construction. My apologies for any misspellings, repeated text, missing references, etc. Please visit again later for a more complete treatment of this topic.